Sports

NHL's Atlanta Thrashers sold, will move to Winnipeg, report says

Owners of the Atlanta Thrashers have agreed to sell the team to a group that will move it to Winnipeg, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported Thursday night.

But Thrashers president Don Waddell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that a deal was not completed, although he admitted there was a potential buyer in play.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said no deal has been made to move the team to Winnipeg.

"We get reports, speculation, that the team's gone. And there's no deal," Bettman said. "I can tell you that with certainty."

The Globe and Mail reported Bettman is expected to make an announcement Tuesday, after the sale of the team is completed by True North Sports and Entertainment.

True North spokesman Scott Brown also said the Toronto report is "not true."

The sale would end months of speculation about Canada gaining back another team. Reports had circulated the financially troubled Phoenix Coyotes would be sold to a Winnipeg group, but that moved never materialized.

If the sale is finished, Canada would get a replacement for the Winnipeg Jets, who bolted Canada in 1996 and became the Coyotes.